Thursday, May 26, 2011

Watermelon Dinosaurs

I picked up one of those small, round watermelons for dinner last night, as a we're-almost-to-summer treat for the children, and cut it into dinosaur shapes to go along with our current family read aloud - Nathan Aaseng's American Dinosaur Hunters.

The book is part of the "Collective Biographies" series from Enslow Publishers, written for fifth to eighth graders, featuring short biographies of people from various careers, or historical positions. Aaseng's volume highlights the lives of ten, American paleontologist from the mid-19th century's Edward Hitchcock, who first catalogued fossilized tracks in this country, to men still alive and working today, like Robert Bakker, or Montana's own Jack Horner.

I originally picked the book up for the older children to read on their own, if they wanted too, but after perusing it, decided it might also interest the younger children, so we're reading it together. Even though it is a book of biographies, it is written, as are most books about dinosaurs, from an evolutionary perspective.

As to the watermelon, that was simple. I found a picture of dinosaur bands online, and saved it to my computer so I could enlarge the picture, and trace the shapes right off the screen onto white paper, which I then traced onto wax paper, and cut out.

I sliced the watermelon into rounds, about an inch and a half thick, and cut the dinosaur shapes out, around the wax paper cutouts, with a sharp knife. Each round fit about two cutouts. I cubed the scraps into a separate bowl, for later.

It was sticky work, but not difficult. The T-Rex and Triceratops ended up being the easiest to cut out. I think next time I might stick to those two, just to make things even easier.

About Me

I'm a homeschool mom of six. My family has been homeschooling for about fourteen years. And, each year, we've learned a little more about having fun, and spending less, while learning more. It's great to be a homeschooler!

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I'm very happy to share ideas, and thoughts with you. I try to give credit to others when they inspire, or add instructions to a project, and ask that you do the same for me. You may copy ideas and pictures from this blog as long as you give credit and link back to the original post. Thanks

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